Legend says it began as an accident.
It was winter in Oakland, California (1905). The sun was warm during the day and the night was cold.
11-year-old Frank Epperson was having fun. Using a wooden stick, Frank mixed a popular fruit-flavored soft drink powder with water. He accidently left it on the porch overnight. The temperature dropped to record lows. In the morning Frank discovered his concoction was frozen solid. Using the wood stick as a handle, he tasted it – and it was delicious. Frank shared his “invention” with friends and family.
The Popsicle was born.
18 years passed before Frank applied for a patent on “frozen ice on a stick” – calling it an Eppsicle. Frank made it in different flavors (cherry was first). His kids called it pop’s sicle and the name stuck.
Popsicle.
Due to financial problems Frank sold the rights to the Joe Lowe Company in 1925. “I was flat [broke] and had to liquidate all my assets,” Frank recalled.
Ten years later, Popsicle Pete hit the airways. He was introduced on the radio program, Buck Rogers in the Twenty-fifth Century. Pete asked kids to send in Popsicle wrappers for free prizes. Wildly popular, Popsicle Pete was part of their advertising for over 50 years!
Popsicle is a brand name – in the U.K they have ice lollies, Israelis and Mexicans love paletas, and Australians slurp icy poles. In 1989, Good Humor (now a subsidiary of Unilever) bought out Popsicle. Today Popsicle is one of the world’s most popular frozen treats, raking in more than $1.4 billion dollars every year.
There was life before Popsicles. Wikipedia reports that “ice and snow were prized in many ancient cuisines” – perhaps as early as Persia (550 BC). The Chinese, Greeks, and Romans “gathered, stored, and used ice or snow.” Roman Emperor Nero sent his slaves to the Apennine Mountains to collect snow and ice for the first sorbets. Marco Polo (see below) wolfed down sorbets and ices when he visited Mongolian Kublai Khan (1260-1294).
Another legend says that Napoleon met Josephine in Tortoni’s Café in Paris (1795) – famous for its ices. Thomas Jefferson, a renowned foodie, harvested river ice and produced summer ices and ice cream for his guests.
Myth, truth, or a bit of both?
Today, Popsicles, firebombs, ice candies, and hokey-pokeys, have evolved into thousands of different names, shapes, flavors, and colors. You can get shapes like Fla-Vor-Ice (no sticks) and Pop-Ice, Jolly Ranchers, Froot Loops Ice Pops, even pickle flavored ice. The most popular flavor is still cherry. That’s if you ignore some of the weird flavors, like avocado, spaghetti, and cheesecake. Adult versions range from boozy cucumber and Bloody Mary to champagne, sangria, and Riesling.
Not to be outdone, strange shapes emerged like red-white-and-blue firecracker ice pops, patriotic pop-tails, jelly-belly, geometric, and ices that look like cacti and viruses!
11-year-old Frankie Epperson couldn’t have imagined today’s Popsicle world.
Why stop there? There’s a National Cherry Popsicle Day in August and a National Popsicle Day in January.
Even popsicle sticks are famous, glued together to form boxes, sculptures, and art projects.
With all this fuss, competition had to get in on the story. A giant Dutch ice pop, 21-feet-tall, held the Guinness World Record. Snapple wanted to beat it. Anthony Ramirez reported in a 2005 edition of The New York Times – A Shocking Thing Happened to the Big Popsicle . . .
Snapple mixed and froze a 35,000-pound, 25-foot-tall popsicle made from their kiwi-strawberry juice drink. They loaded it onto a refrigerated truck and brought it to Union Square in New York City. It began to melt. “Soon pedestrians were fleeing in not-quite terror,” wrote Ramirez, “fire trucks were converging and the police were closing off streets.” The sticky goo flowed down East 17 street where cyclists, pedestrians, and cars could “slip in the ooze.”
Newsday’s headline read: “World’s Largest Ice Pop? More Like Red Sea of Slush.” The Herald’s headline was World’s Largest Ice Lolly Meets with a Sticky End in New York.
Snapple didn’t win the record.
Whether you play with world records, cuddle a popsicle plush, create artwork from sticks, or slurp this wonderful confection, it’s guaranteed to make you feel good.
Who could argue with that?
Aha! Pop’s sicle…popsicle. Now it makes sense! I’ve wondered about that name, seriously. Hey, if it’s good enough for Nero it’s good enough for those of us sweltering in the blazing heat; he was probably pretty warm while he fiddled! Thanks for another great article!